English Vocabulary: The Basics offers a clear, non-jargonistic introduction to English vocabulary, the way linguists classify and explain it, and the place of vocabulary in our overall picture of the language, and in society. Introducing a range of terminology for discussing vocabulary, the reader is provided with a coherent, structured description of what we know about words and their meanings.
Key features of this book include:
• Analysis of historical roots of present-day words
• Coverage of the differences between speech and writing and between formality and informality
• Understanding of the social implications of choices that readers make to use standard or non-standard (e.g., regional/dialect) vocabulary
• A focus on British English with reference to a wide range of varieties of English that include North American English, Irish English, Indian English, Malaysian English, Nigerian English and Caribbean English.
Featuring a glossary of key terms, cartoons and illustrations, further reading, reflection points, interesting "factoids" and examples from corpora from around the world, this book is an engaging and thought-provoking read for anyone with an interest in English vocabulary.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION TO THE READER
1 A WORD OR TWO ABOUT WORDS
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ‘VOCABULARY’?
THE ‘ENGLISH’ IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY
AT LEAST WE KNOW WHAT WORDS ARE … DON’T WE?
SPACED OUT
EYES AND EARS
IT JUST FEELS RIGHT
I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN
MORPHEMES
TAKING WORDS TO PIECES
GRAMMAR AND LEXIS
WORDS STICK TOGETHER
COMPOUNDS
MULTI-WORD UNITS
IDIOMS
COLLOCATION
RECIPES FOR NEW WORDS
WORDS COME AND GO
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
HALF AND HALF
KEEP IT SHORT
LENDING AND BORROWING
CORPORA: LETTING THE DATA SPEAK
USING A CORPUS
CORPUS EXAMPLE (1): HARD-WORKING WORDS
CORPUS EXAMPLE (2): SPEAKING VERSUS WRITING
SUMMING UP
FURTHER READING
2 WHERE DO ENGLISH WORDS COME FROM?
THE DIM AND DISTANT PAST
THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH
ANGLO-SAXONS
BEGINNING TO LOOK FAMILIAR: CHRONICLES AND MONSTERS
MORE INCOMERS
VIKINGS
A BIG CHANGE: THE NORMANS ARRIVE
PUTTING IT IN BLACK AND WHITE
TELLING TALES
PIERS PLOWMAN
INTO THE MODERN ERA
LANGUAGE ABOUT LANGUAGE
AN EXPANDING VOCABULARY
CIRCLING THE WORLD
A SETTLED LANGUAGE
SPELLING IT OUT
NEW WORLDS, NEW CULTURES
NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW ENGLISHES
FURTHER READING
3 WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
FROM FORM TO MEANING
WORDING THE WORLD
MAKING SENSE OF THE LEXICON
SAME OR DIFFERENT?
SYNONYMY
LOOKS THE SAME, SOUNDS THE SAME BUT …
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
CLASSIFYING THE WORLD
THE UPSIDE-DOWN TREE
SCIENTIFICALLY SPEAKING
FUZZY BORDERS AND STEREOTYPES
AN ARM AND A LEG: PARTS AND WHOLES
MAKING SENSE IN THE REAL WORLD
TAKING MEANING TO PIECES
PLUSES AND MINUSES TO EVERYTHING
WORDS, THE MIND AND THE WORLD
PRAGMATICS: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
FURTHER READING
4 BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH: FIGURATIVE MEANING
JUST IMAGINE
ATOMS OR MOLECULES?
BITE-SIZED CHUNKS
ROOM FOR MANOUEVRE
AS CLEAR AS MUD: IDIOMS
DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN?
IN A NUTSHELL
IDIOM-PRONE
LOOK AT IT THIS WAY
METAPHORS
PROVERBS AND METAPHORS
TROPES GALORE
HERE COMES THE ARMY: METONYMY
NO EXAGGERATION: HYPERBOLE
A NOT UNINTERESTING TROPE: UNDERSTATEMENT
EUPHEMISMS
SUMMARY
FURTHER READING
5 BEAR THIS IN MIND: THE MENTAL LEXICON
A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT
HOW DID IT ALL GET THERE? ACQUIRING VOCABULARY
DESIGNING A HUMAN
ONE WORD AT A TIME
TELEGRAMS FROM A CHILD
MORE THAN ONE WAY OF SAYING THINGS
SPELL IT OUT
WHERE ARE ALL THOSE WORDS?
MIND AND BRAIN: THE MENTAL LEXICON
HOW DOES IT WORK?
FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY JACK ROBINSON
WHAT COMES INTO YOUR HEAD?
JUST A SLIP OF THE TONGUE?
IN TWO MINDS AGAIN
CONCLUSION
FURTHER READING
6 VOCABULARY IN ACTION
WORDS OUT THERE
LANGUAGE SNAPSHOTS
HARD WORDS
NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN
LETTING THE MACHINE DECIDE: CORPORA
QUIZZING THE DATA
EXCHANGING A FEW WORDS
LET’S NOT GO INTO DETAIL
SO, CONSEQUENTLY …
WINDOWS ON CULTURE
WORDS ON THE MOVE
NAUGHTY BUT NICE
A NOTICEABLE UPTICK
SHOWING YOUR AGE
MAPPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY
VARIETIES
DIFFERENT VOICES: DIALECTS AND SOCIOLECTS
SPECIAL VOCABULARIES
WORDS AND THE IMAGINATION
FLOUTING CONVENTIONS
OLD WORDS, NEW MEANINGS
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
HAVING A LAUGH
EDUCATION AND LEARNING
GROWING UP WITH WORDS
SECOND LANGUAGE VOCABULARY
THE END OF THE BEGINNING
FURTHER READING
GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
REFERENCES
INDEX
Biography
Michael McCarthy is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Nottingham, and Adjunct Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Limerick. He has (co-)authored and edited 58 books and was co-founder (with Ronald Carter) of the CANCODE spoken English corpus. He has lectured in 46 countries and has been involved in language teaching and applied linguistics for 57 years.
This is a book for all of us who wonder where words in English come from, how they relate to each other, what patterns they occur in, how we store them in our minds, and what choices we make when we use words and why. This highly readable volume draws on multiple sources including many years of Michael McCarthy’s excellent scholarship, corpus evidence, examples from varieties of English and a keen interest in language and language learning.
Averil Coxhead, Professor in Applied Linguistics, Victoria University of Wellington
